Altium Vault Licensing
Parent page: Installation, Licensing & Management
The Altium Vault is provided by Altium as a single design solution - a solution that offers far more than simply a vault. Its installation provides a service (the Vault itself), whilst also facilitating a platform through which other services and technologies are provided. Think of it as a vault-centric ensemble of features and services.
The actual feature set available to you - at the organization level, as well as the user level - is determined and controlled through licensing that is specifically purchased for the Altium Vault product.
Specific Vault Licensing
Licensing for the Altium Vault essentially consists of the following two components, that together comprise a two-tiered licensing system:
- Server License - this license makes the features and services of the Altium Vault installation available to the organization.
- Client Access License - this license enables users within an organization to access, and sign-in to the organization's Altium Vault.
Licensing for the Altium Vault can be handled through the cloud, or locally through license files (*.alf).
Both Server and Client Access license types are available in a single distinct license package - Altium Vault - giving an organization, and its users, access to all installed vault technologies. The following list summarizes the key features and services included:
Standard
- Backup & Restore
Component Management
- Component Management
- Supply Chain
Document Management
- Integrated Version Control (SVN)
- Design Document Management
- Design Re-use
- Release Management
Team Configuration Management
- Team Configuration Center (TC2)
- Network Installation Service
Collaboration
- Managed Projects
- Markup System (Document Commenting)
- Concurrent Design
Getting Licensed
The Altium Vault's functionality becomes available when the vault has been licensed by the addition of a suitable Altium Vault License. In summary, the Altium Vault and its client connections can be licensed in one of the following ways:
- Acquiring Server and Client Access (CAL) licenses from the Altium License service portal.
This uses the From cloud option of the vault's self-licensing facility. Sign out then back in to the vault to enable its newly licensed features.
- Connecting to the PLS service in another Altium Vault (such as a central license server) that offers acquired Altium Vault licenses with available seats.
See the External PLS mode for details on this licensing option.
- Importing existing license files (*.alf) from disk.
This uses the From file option of the vault's self-licensing facility, and effectively 'acquires' vault licenses that you already have locally. Sign out then back in to the vault to enable its newly licensed features.
- Placing license files (*.alf) in the root directory of the Altium Vault installation (normally
\Program Files (x86)\Altium\Altium Vault
), which is the method used for previous versions of the Altium Vault. The vault will automatically import the license files when it restarts - a reboot may be required.
Self-Licensing
The Altium Vault provides a flexible 'self licensing' method for adding or acquiring Altium licenses, available though its Licenses page (ADMIN » LICENSES). With a fresh installation of the Altium Vault, you will be guided through the licensing process by a sequence of hint instructions.
- Begin the licensing process for a newly installed Altium Vault by logging in to its web interface from the PC that's hosting the vault. You must be signed in as an administrator, using the default name/password (
admin/admin
) credentials, or those of a configured admin account.
- When signed in, the vault's web interface will provide an alert indicating that the vault is unlicensed. Select the Add License link to proceed to the Licenses page. Once there, to add a license click the button, and select from the cloud or file options. The From cloud option will load a list of licenses available to your company from the Altium portal, whereas the From file option will open a file browser for selecting and importing existing
alf
license files from disk.
- Altium Account credentials are required to connect to the web-based Altium Licensing portal when using the From Cloud option. Note that these credentials allow the License Server to communicate directly with your Altium Live account for the initial acquisition of your company licenses, so the host machine - on which the Altium Vault is installed and running - needs access to the internet at this time.
As the vault is not yet configured to connect to an account, an AltiumLive Sign in dialog will automatically open to request your account credentials. Note that this is a one-off process - once the account credentials have been validated, they will be saved as part of the vault's configuration (see ADMIN » SETTINGS - General).
- The Add Licenses dialog will appear, listing all Altium licenses available to your company, including those for Altium Designer and other Altium software. To activate the vault features, choose a valid Altium Vault server license. To enable users to sign in to the vault from Altium Designer, also select a valid Altium Vault CAL license (Client Access License).
- Instigate the process of acquiring (or 'retrieving') those licenses from the remote Altium License Server to the local Altium Vault by clicking the button. When the process is complete, the Licenses page will show the acquired licenses, along with an instruction to sign in/out to activate the vault features. One seat of the vault server license will be used, as indicated by the User Count field associated with that license.
- Once you have signed out and back in to your Altium Vault, its enabled commands will become fully available on the Main (top) and administrator (ADMIN) menus.
Obtaining License Files
Acquiring licenses for your Altium Vault - through the cloud-based Altium License service - is the quickest, and most streamlined approach. But, should you wish, vault licensing can also be handled locally through license files (*.alf). Manual acquisition of the required license files is performed through the Altium Dashboard (accessed using the Dashboard control at the top of the Altium website). From the Licenses page, locate the applicable license (in the Server Applications grouping of licenses) then click through to the detailed license management page. Once there, click the Activate link to generate and download the associated license file.
The number of license files will depend on the needs of the organization, but a minimum of two files are required:
- Altium Vault Server License - this license makes the features and services of the Altium Vault installation available to the organization. The license obtained will depend on the type of back end database used for the vault data, and can be one of the following:
- Altium Vault License <LicenseActivationCode>.alf - when using a Firebird database.
- Altium Vault Oracle License <LicenseActivationCode>.alf - when using an Oracle database.
- Altium Vault Client Access License (CAL) - this license enables users within an organization to access, and sign-in to the organization's Altium Vault, and also determines how many users can simultaneously be connected to the vault. Although any number of users may be registered to access and use the vault, only that licensed number will be allowed to connect to it simultaneously. Each license provides a purchased number of seats, n, giving simultaneous connection to up to n different users. The license obtained will depend on the type of back end database used for the vault data, and can be one of the following:
- Altium Vault CAL License <LicenseActivationCode>.alf - when using a Firebird database.
- Altium Vault Oracle CAL License <LicenseActivationCode>.alf- when using an Oracle database.
Once the license files are downloaded, they can be used in the following ways:
- Import them, one at a time, through the vault's self-service licensing. From the Libraries page of the vault's browser-based interface click the button, and select the From file option. A file browser dialog will open, from which to select and import the alf files.
- Drop them into the root installation folder for the Altium Vault (the default for which is \Program Files (x86)\Altium\Altium Vault). The vault will automatically import the license files when it restarts - a reboot may be required.
Exceeding the Licensing Limit for an Altium Vault
By default, the seats of all Client Access Licenses are gathered into a floating license pool. In other words, one big bucket of potential vault connections. When a user within an organization attempts to connect to the Altium Vault, they will automatically be served a seat from this pool. This assignment continues for subsequent user access.
If you try to connect to/access an Altium Vault from within Altium Designer, or an external Web Browser, and the limit on the number of simultaneous connections - determined by the licensing - has already been reached, sign-in will fail. In this case, you will be presented with a dialog alerting you to this fact, stating how many users are currently (and concurrently) logged in, and listing those users by Username.